The Florida Panthers are just one win away from repeating as Stanley Cup Champions in 2025. They lead the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final 3-2 after a masterful 5-2 victory on the road in Game 5 on Saturday night.

Brad Marchand and Sam Bennett have been the stars for the Panthers in these playoffs and especially in this Cup Final series, scoring plenty of goals and making plays all over the ice. The usual stars for Florida, such as Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk, have been much quieter but are still contributing.

Of course, Tkachuk made it back from a pretty serious injury just to play in the postseason this year. Ahead of Game 6 on Tuesday night, the star forward dove into his injury issues and what it has taken for him to get back on the ice for this playoff run, via Chris Johnson of The Athletic.

“The first round was definitely the worst I felt,” Tkachuk said. “By far.”

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He also said that he didn't even know if he would be able to make it back for the postseason until the day of Game 1 of Florida's first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Panthers are certainly thrilled to have him out on the ice and contributing in a big way.

Tkachuk had been dealing with a lower body injury that he suffered during the 4 Nations Face-Off back in February and missed the entire second half of the NHL regular season as a result. While his status for the postseason was in jeopardy near the end of the regular season, he has been a full go during this long and grueling playoff run.

Tkachuk is still tied for the team lead in points during this playoff run despite his relatively quiet Cup Final series, scoring seven goals with 15 assists. Bennett also has 22 points with 15 goals and seven assists, so those two have been problems for the Panthers' opponents throughout.

Tkachuk does have six points in this series, including three in a stunning Game 4 loss to the Oilers. However, he hasn't had the splash moments that he did in the 2024 playoff run that saw the Panthers crowned as Stanley Cup Champions. Maybe that moment is coming at the tail end of this run to cement his team as back-to-back champs.